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And here I thought you were a humble dude >
On a more serious note, I'll be posting an UPDATE soon.
Quint: "Why am I surrounded by all these brainless idiots...?"
Speaking of which, a female Quint is an interesting curiousity. I always pictured "Quint" as a mid-level European-mafia-style guy. Not too tall, but somewhat muscular, with a buzz cut.
THE MILLENNIAL FAIR
We finally run off to the Millennial Fair! The first thing you'll notice is the race going on. We'll get to that later! Right now, it's time for an upgrade!
We go up to the swordsmith, Melchior. Melchior has exactly two weapons for sale. We'll pick the Bronze Blade, as the Silver Sword is way too expensive and the stat boost is negligible anyways. Melchior is extremely plot-important: do NOT forget this.
The merchant under the blue tent sells armor at a reasonable rate for this stage. Likewise, the man under the purple tent sells consumables. Consumables will come in handy at this stage, as there's a segment where Lavos goes out all by himself.
The main currency in the fair is Silver Points. Silver Points can be bought (at a bullshit exchange rate) or won in contests. The easiest way to gain Silver Points is to fight Gato. Gato is only slightly tougher than most noob monsters at this point, and the 15 points he yields is more than worth it. There are some other ways, but they're varying degrees of bullshit.
The race itself is based on pure luck. Don't believe the old man: he doesn't know shit. (This is also the very first instance of CT's theme being portrayed, although a minor one)
At the screen before Gato, you can do a bunch of things. You can:
That last part is how the plot gets moving in the first place. You need to give the pendant back to the girl, since you can't do anything else with it. Once you give the pendant back to the girl, she offers to join you. But before that, let's get to the music!
MUSIC
The Millennial Fair is a fun, upbeat track that perfectly sums up the feeling of a fair. It's a rather nice piece.
Gato's Song lasts only for a few seconds, but it's ridiculously catchy.
And finally...
The young girl makes an offer Lavos can't refuse (literally!)! What will the name of Lavos' new travelling buddy be? (Six-CHARACTER limit, thank you very much)
Gaston
pichu
Fenrir.
Gaston it is
OK, we're back!
This time, let's take a look at Gaston!
Gaston's stats are ABYSMAL. She joins at Level 1 and needs 10 Tech Points to become marginally useful. Gaston is easily the worst character in the game. Too bad Lavos has a crush on her, eh?
Gaston is a Cleric-type character. What's interesting about Gaston is that her tech inventory has no multiple-healing techs. She does, however, have two useful techs (endgame-wise), but let's not get to that yet.
Some grinding later and Gaston gets Aura! We also get Aura Whirl, a Dual Tech! It's time for an explanation on Dual Techs, by the way.
DUAL TECHS
Dual Techs are essentially when two characters combine techs to create an even stronger version of a tech. The downside is that it wastes both characters' turns to do so. That's basically it!
This feature was what made Chrono Trigger's gameplay so great, at least in the early-game. Late-game...well, it's not time for that yet. Yet.
TELEPOD MACHINE
A little grinding later and Gaston's Level 3! This game isn't the hardest, so grinding isn't really necessary. I guess that works for narrative purposes, though.
Sleeping in your bed restores all your HP and MP! I don't wanna think about the implications it carries though. Seriously.
Doing different things with Gaston in your party yields different responses. I returned the kitty and did the drinking contest just 'cos seeing Lavos trying awkwardly to impress Gaston just...clicks.
When you're done, talk to the girl at the fountain. This will trigger the opening of Quint's attraction...the Telepod! Before that, there's a sequence where Gaston buys some candy. Contrary to what other people say, you can do whatever in this scene. There's only a marginal effect later, anyways.
At the Telepod screen, Quint beckons Lavos into trying her new invention. Ever eager to impress a girl he just met 10 minutes ago, Lavos dares to risk being bisected or atomized irretrievably. It works out fine, of course!
When it's Gaston's turn, however...
Yeah, a time portal activates and she gets sucked in. Lavos "heroically" jumps in and tries to rescue her despite the fact that Quint is obviously forcing him to go.
600 A.D
Lavos winds up in a strange and unfamiliar world. He is almost immediately assaulted by demons. As far as first impressions go, this is by far the worst possible. They aren't too hard to beat, though.
The monsters here are only marginally a step up from the demons in the Present Day. Seeing as there is an upgrade available immediately after you enter, you should be one-shotting them pretty easily.
Your first stop should be the castle. After a brief cutscene, Lavos meets the Queen, Leene. OR IS SHE? Talking to a bunch of people shows that something's fishy, and it's not just Leene. The chancellor has been behaving strangely lately, they say...
Anyways, you go up to the room and Leene reveals that the Queen is (to no-one's surprise) Gaston. There's a bit of sexual tension before she disappears completely. On the way out, Lavos runs into Quint, who explains that a TIME PARADOX caused her to disappear.
Let's have another overview! This time with Quint!
Quint is a Nuker-type, and honestly those types are my favorite. Quint has access to a number of heavily-destructive Fire techs, which makes her useful throughout the game. She also gets a nice Dual Tech with Marle later on, but now's not the time for that.
A little grinding later and Quint gets a Flamethrower tech, which (to my knowledge) is the only tech at this stage that is able to do triple-digit damage. You also get the Dual Tech Fire Whirl, which shares the same range as Cyclone but hits multiple enemies for Fire damage.
We go over to Manoria, where things are still pretty fishy. Eventually it is realized that the nuns are really snake-demons in disguise. They cast Nagamour~ Slow, which strangely (hint: it's 'cos she's a lesbo) works on Quint.
STATUS EFFECTS
There are different status effects in CT. There are ones that negatively affect you (such as Slow) and ones that positively affect you. Curiously, there are no negative effect-inducing spells in CT, despite this being a Square game.
After that (rather easy with Fire Whirl) battle, Quint is cheap-shotted by a snake-demon. She is about to die a painful death when a giant talking frog appears and kills the snake-demon!
Despite Quint's initial reluctance, the swordsfrog ends up joining us. He first introduces himself as...
MUSIC
A Strange Happening plays during Marle's disappearance. Not much else to say.
Wind Scene is the overworld theme for 600 A.D. Never really liked it. Too bland.
Courage and Pride, on the other hand, is a great track. It gives the player a sense of majesty. It's perfect for a castle as big as Guardia Castle.
Manoria Cathedral is just churchy music. It doesn't really add much.
Fanfare 1...bleh. I really don't like this theme.
Overall, the music in this stage is kind of boring.
AND LASTLY...
What will the name of this talking frog be?
pichu
That would be more suited to Crono
no
call the frog pichu
> talking frog
Mallow
On another note typing that was physically exhaustive.
Next time my updates will be smaller. I'm even considering posting Gameplay and Music separately
Slippy.
Toad
Kermit.
From what I remember Marle Gaston's strength is potency and longevity. Her heals were considerably stronger and cheaper than anyone else's (endgame, there's no reason to use her higher heals because her basic 1 TP cure caps out), though for a few fights you really did need a certain amphibious buddy healing the whole party to blunt AOE damage without taking up the protagonist's turn.
Simic.
"Slippy" was too good to pass up. Sorry.
INTRODUCTION TO SLIPPY
Slippy is probably the most well-balanced character in the game. He's good at everything: healing, attacks, magic and the like. However, he's not as versatile or powerful magically as Lucca or Magus, not as good at healing as Marle, and he hits weaker than Robo or Ayla. He's the definition of the spellblade, which I suppose contributes to his self-esteem problem.
If it's any consolation, Slippy, I always use you during the final boss fight. You're just too versatile to pass up.
Anyways, the group continues on towards the Queen!
DUNGEON
This is the party's first introduction to dungeon-type levels. Dungeon-types have been around since the first few FFs, but the puzzles they've involved have always just been methods to delay the characters 'cos LOL RANDOM ENCOUNTERS. Since monsters can be avoided on the overworld (rendering this objective pointless), this gave the devs an opportunity to make dungeon exploring slightly more complex.
Of course, this being the first dungeon it's really very simple. Even moreso considering I've already cleared the game 4 times.
The enemies here are on a whole different level than the ones previously encountered. Instead of one hit, it takes (dun dun dun) TWO hits to kill these bastards! On a more serious note, the Nagas can really put a hurt on you with Slow spells.
There are a few upgrades here, mostly to Lavos and Slippy's attack stats. Quint gets a nifty Maiden Suit, which increases her Defense by a fair amount.
After some really easy puzzle-solving and monster fighting, we finally hit the first boss: The Chancellor! The Chancellor, being obviously evil, turns into a monster named Yakra.
YAKRA
Yakra is...not that hard. Just hit him really hard, and heal when appropriate.
Yakra is, however, a good introduction to bosses in CT. By observing Yakra's movements and actions, one can infer the moves he is going to make. For example, there is a specific stance Yakra makes when he is about to use his signature move (Yakra Needle). By observing said stance, you can adjust your strategy accordingly.
GETTING MARLE BACK
After kicking Yakra's ass, we are treated to a short cutscene where we learn of Slippy's low self-esteem. Should've stuck with pure swordsman, I guess. After that, we return to Leene's quarters, where Gaston suddenly gets un-paradoxed (Take that, Time Traveller's Immunity!). It is finally time to return home.
One of the most interesting things is that Yakra (and a related enemy) are the only enemies that share needle-type attacks with Lavos.
Edit: Actual Lavos, not joke Lavos.
Much like Ayla, I find that Frog is stupidly powerful at higher levels and with proper nurturing. I made a point of giving him Speed Tabs (lol) until his speed rating hit two stars. With a particular mid-late game weapon and the swords that come after it, he also tends to deal more damage than anyone but Ayla -- even more than Chrono. Coupled with his medium-high magical potential and his healing support abilities (which make for some excellent dual-techs), this easily makes Frog one of the high-tier characters of the game.
And none of that even takes into account his potential crit rate with the right combination of equipment. He's an insane damage-dealing machine with or without techs. Plus, with Chrono, he can use one of the coolest dual techs in the game -- Spire. In fact, of the characters you have in your party right now, I'd probably rate him the highest.
But you can have the whole scale anyway!
No doubt some will disagree with putting Lucca higher on the list than Chrono... but she really is just that good. Chrono's a good physical attacker and a moderate magical attacker in a game that heavily rewards magical damage more often than not, with his saving grace being high speed and a reasonably versatile set of techs. As much as Lucca sucks at physical attacks, her techs more than make up for it, and her dual techs are weighted heavily towards nuking the hell out of the enemy, often many at a time. A multi-target dual tech is a valuable thing, and Lucca is the only character, to my memory, that combines high solo magic damage with good access to multi-target dual techs.
I always take Frog, Lucca, and Chrono to face Magus. I like having access to all four magic elements.
Also, of course Lucca has good magic. Didn't you hear the TSAB talking about how good mages tend to be good at math?
Who the hell are the TSAB and need I introduce such dastardly wizards to the end of a sword?
you'd have to get past their lasers first
or else be befriended
or punched in the face by a skating cyborg, i guess
IIRC, the first time I beat Lavos, I used Crono, Lucca, and Robo.
Crono-Magus-Frog
Chrono, Frog and Marle here. Marle was a lifesaver via her healing shenanigans.
(Also, I like how the characters characters relate as thematic and narrative pairs.)
Magus is probably the best character in the game, to be honest. Dark Matter is just as powerful as Luminaire and slightly less powerful than Flare, and his magical versatility makes up for his lower magical damage output than Lucca.
Fire, Light and Water attacks also get a boost, so he's the best Water user in the game too.